The Marine Corps Way - Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization

Jason A. Santamaria

Vincent Martino

Eric K. Clemons, Ph.D.

Copyright 2004 by Jason A. Santamaria, Vincent Martino, and Eric K. Clemons. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN 0-07-142377-X

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To the United States Marine Corps, its sister services, and corporate America, which, together, safeguard our society and provide for our prosperity

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, we would like to thank the following people, without whom this book would not have been possible:

Our families and loved ones. Jason would like to thank his mother, Nancy Santamaria, our most impatient in-house editor; his father, Joe Santamaria, whose grasp of military history and command of the English language made him one of our most valuable in-house editors ”when he wanted to be; and Kim Seidel, who endured daily progress updates for almost a year and provided us with unique insights based on her experiences as a Wall Street equity research analyst. Vincent would like to thank his wife, Stacy, who, pregnant with their first child for the majority of the book-writing process, endured his routine absence due to many late nights and long weekends, read every word of this book (over and over again), and helped him through countless bouts of writer s block. Eric would like to acknowledge the support and love of his wife, Jean, and daughter , Julia, throughout a demanding academic career and, more recently, during the doubly demanding process of pursuing that career and writing a book the Marine Corps way.

Fellow Marines, both former and current. Frederick Smith, who, embodying the Marines motto, Semper Fidelis , took time out of an extremely busy schedule to talk to a couple of young pups. Guy Wyser-Pratte, who similarly showed the true meaning of Semper Fidelis and who made sure that the junior Marines ate first when he treated Jason and Vincent to his version of the Wall Street power lunch ”New York s best hot dogs. Michael Buckingham, who provided us with insights for Chapters 10 and 12 that only a former recon officer could. Howard Zonder, a former communications officer, who offered us several examples from his experiences in the business world, provided ongoing feedback, and was an indispensable source for chapter-leading quotes. Sean Brosnihan, a former company commander, who offered his combined business-Marine perspective.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Tulaney, formerly Vincent s commanding officer and mentor, who introduced us to Guy Wyser-Pratte and provided us invaluable field-grade perspective on our ideas. Lieutenant Colonel Mitch McCarthy, formerly Jason s commanding officer and mentor, who was a member of 5/11 in Operation Desert Storm and provided a firsthand account of the raids we describe in Chapter 10. Captain Chris Rogers, former artillery officer and instructor at The Basic School, who provided us with unique, cutting-edge insights into how the Marine Corps has been training its new officers since Jason and Vincent were students there back in 1995.

Our business associates and professional colleagues. Jon Katzenbach, who gave Jason his first big break in writing in 1999 and who provided us with the sage advice that only a five-time author could in the early stages of our effort. Mike Useem, who teamed with Jason and Vincent to introduce to the Wharton School intense , hands-on Marine Corps leadership training in 2001 and who also provided invaluable advice in the early stages of our efforts. Donna Conover, who took time out from her never-ending duty of safeguarding Southwest Airlines tradition of outrageous customer service to help us with Chapter 13. John Gatlin, who managed to give us thorough, insightful feedback and find all of our split infinitives, even while making a cross-country move and starting a new job. Robert Howard, a Desert Storm veteran who offered an Army perspective. Matt Lazaro, who helped tremendously with Chapter 6. Sean Cohan, an in-house editor whose creativity and insights as a nonmilitary business reader helped us refine our first four chapters. Kevin Barry, who has argued passionately about strategy with Eric over the past decade . And Tom Grace, who was indispensable in our research efforts.

Jason and Vincent would like to thank Eric, their professor and adviser at the Wharton School, for letting them into his classroom as alumni guest speakers in the fall of 2002.

Warfighting. Throughout this book, we repeatedly reference the Marine Corps s doctrinal publication, Warfighting . Like all lieutenants at The Basic School, Jason and Vincent read this masterfully written pocket- sized manual from front to back many times over, which no doubt planted the seeds that cultivated this book.

Our editor. Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank Barry Neville, a consummate professional, tough negotiator , keen editor, and savvy marketer ”all rolled into one.